Sideswipe: Dec 29: I tolerate you

Thanks for the, er, sentiment. Photo / Supplied

Memorable moments of sexism from 2015

1. EA Sports announced it would be adding women's teams to its new Fifa video game and gamers went into a panic. One comment read: "Women have ruined the earth and now they are ruining Fifa."

2. US Glamour magazine published a article entitled "13 Little Things That Can Make a Man Fall Hard for You", including such gems as opening the door naked and letting him "solve your petty work problem".

3. Back home The Edge breakfast show's "cucumber number" game rightly caused mass eye-rolling. Female guests got to shove cucumbers as far down their own oesophagus as possible without retching, in a not so subtle analogy to oral sex. The idea being whoever deep throated most of the cucumber had the most impressive lady-attribute and would be the winner.

4. "Not doing enough housework is making women fat", proclaimed the Daily Mail, in an ingenious headline that managed to both put women down and put them in their place at the very same time.

5. League legend Graham Lowe called MP Jacinda Ardern a "pretty little thing", and said she would "look good" as PM. Various commentators made excuses for the comment declaring his age and rugby background as being mitigating factors.

6. Presidential hopeful Donald Trump is an objectionable comment generator, particularly about women, and his misguided gag hit new heights when he said he totally gets why some women chose to wear burqas. It's because they don't have to put on any makeup.

7. A "skinny acceptance", "pro-health" campaign that photoshops images of plus-size women and makes them skinnier to reveal their "#thinnerbeauty". Gah.

Black rose gift gets suspect reaction

Dana Grim, from York County, Pennsylvania, who allegedly sent black roses and a card reading "karma" to her former boss, has been charged with harassment. After researching their meaning - black roses, which do not exist in nature, have been used to symbolise death or revenge traditionally - the recipient felt so threatened, they contacted police. "Surely any threat implied by black roses, is internet/dime novel fantasy, with no standing in the courtroom? Perhaps the recipient's conscience prompts his paranoia," wrote one commenter. (Source: PennLive.com)

Jewel of an idea

A jeweller in DeLand, Florida is, for the third year, holding its Fire & Ice sale. Buy US$450 ($657) or more of jewellery and get a free 12 gauge shotgun worth US$270, provided you pass the background check. It has already given away 20 shotguns and has ordered more.